Due to hearing loss, some individuals have difficulty perceiving or are unable to perceive sound. In order to perceive at least a portion of a sound, these individuals may benefit from the use of a hearing prosthesis. Certain hearing prostheses are designed to assist users having specific types of hearing loss. In a bilateral hearing prosthesis system, a user employs a first hearing prosthesis for the user's left ear and a second hearing prosthesis for the user's right ear.
The effectiveness of the hearing prostheses depends on the type and severity of a user's hearing loss. Furthermore, depending on the hearing prostheses, the user may perceive sound as a person with normal hearing, or the hearing prostheses may allow the user to perceive a portion of the sound. The effectiveness of the hearing prostheses also depends on how well the prostheses are configured for, or “fitted” to, a user of the hearing prosthesis. Fitting the hearing prostheses, sometimes also referred to as “programming,” “calibrating,” or “mapping,” creates a set of control settings and other data that define the specific characteristics of the stimuli (in the form of acoustic, mechanical, or electrical signals) delivered to the relevant portions of the person's outer ear, middle ear, inner ear, auditory nerve, or other body part. The control settings are based on the user's type and severity of hearing loss. This configuration information is sometimes referred to as the user's “program” or “map.”